Report: Senior Magpies officials now speak to 'stunning' player about joining Newcastle, Howe really wants him

By Sam Preston

Newcastle officials have opened talks with Jesse Lingard over joining the club in the summer when his Manchester United deal expires.

The Magpies were of course heavily linked with Lingard during the January transfer window but the demands from Old Trafford were just too much.

As it turned out, Newcastle did not need to desperately dive in for Lingard as they have secured Premier League survival without him.

And now they can go back in for him in the summer, when he will be a free agent, but the Northern Echo say they are prepared for a fight to land him.

Newcastle officials have opened talks with Jesse Lingard

Their report also says that talks have resumed between player and club: “Preliminary talks are understood to have taken place between Lingard’s representatives and senior Newcastle officials, with the St James’ Park hierarchy reaffirming their interest.“

AC Milan, Paris St Germain, Juventus and West Ham are all named in the report as interested clubs, which means that Lingard could get back into the Champions League.

But does he want to risk a season where he is not playing as much, just like he has had this season?

Lingard needs to play games to get his career back on track and he also has his eye on getting back into the England squad ahead of the World Cup.

Plenty was made on Monday night about how Lingard did not get the chance to have a ‘proper’ Old Trafford send off in front of the fans.

United beat Brentford 3-0 on a night where the likes of Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata and Edinson Cavani getting the chance to say their goodbyes.

Lingard has to move on this summer and Newcastle are clearly keen to beat the crowd, with Eddie Howe reportedly really keen for the club to sign the man previously labelled ‘stunning‘ by Alan Shearer.